The Australian Government’s official commemoration of the life of
Queen Elizabeth II was centred around a wonderful 1954
portrait by Sir
William DARGIE. 3 Squadron also had a
great connection with Dargie; he was an Official War Artist in
North Africa and painted several 3SQN personalities. In 1958
he also kindly created the cover painting for the Association’s
unit-history, “3 Squadron at War”, depicting a
dive-bombing Kittyhawk.
[VERY kind, since Dargie was by then a “Royal” portraitist
and had won the Archibald Prize EIGHT times!]
The AWM painting shown at right - ART22154 - was labelled by
Dargie with just the nickname “Riccy”. It was
painted at Gambut, Libya on 6 March 1942. The AWM Curators
have recently thanked 3SQN Association for identifying the sitter:
5135
Leading Aircraftman T. J. “Riccy” RICARDO,
who was a D.M.T. (Driver Motor Transport) with 3SQN
between 26 Nov 1940 and 26 May 1942.
Jen GILBERT, from Adelaide, is the daughter of WW2 3SQN Kittyhawk pilot Peter GILBERT. (Unfortunately Peter died of leukemia in 1968.) Jen is currently transcribing her dad’s old war letters and sought the Association’s help to de-code some of the words. In a letter dated 10/8/43, Peter mentioned a photo:
“We have been doing a fair bit of work for the first two weeks and have had rather a sticky time of it with ack-ack, but no enemy fighters. I got rather shot-up the other day, not myself but my kite, two fairly big holes in the tail. I had my photo taken beside it by Laurie LeGuay, who is a press photographer out here. He mentioned that it would come out in Man, so you might see it. I’m getting on towards the 120-hour mark now, so it won’t be many more months before I’m on a boat heading for home…”
The mystery word "Man" referred to an Australian magazine. Laurie was very well-connected in fashion-photography and society circles. Despite being a Govt employee, we could well imagine Laurie having a ready side-channel for "manly" photos such as this:
Sicily, Italy. 1943. Flight Sergeant Peter GILBERT, of
Adelaide, SA, looks at the damage caused to the
tail assembly of his aircraft by a German AA gun, during operations
over the Catania area.
The AWM Collection has several other photos of Peter.
In another letter, dated 3/11/1943, Peter writes:
“About that merry-faced business,
don’t mention it. That was received with much disgust in
the Squadron and if the bloke who wrote it could have heard what
was said, his ears would have burnt off. Publicity is all
right, but that sort of thing gives us the willies…”
We were able to discover that Peter was referring to a propaganda article published back in Australia in July '43, which had obviously gotten back to the boys by the time that Peter penned his letter. (By that time they were also deep in the WINTER MUD of Mileni - which would not have helped their mood either!)
Air Force Association NSW have put some great new PODCAST INTERVIEWS on their website,
including:
- Air Marshal Geoff BROWN, AO.
(Rose to Chief of Air Force, after having been a 3SQN Hornet
pilot, and then CO3 in the late 1990s.)
- Group Captain Terry WILSON, AM, AFC.
(3SQN Sabre pilot at Butterworth mid-sixties and flew in
“Operation Excalibur”, when 3SQN “withdrew the SWORD” to
Williamtown in Feb67.)
- Air Vice-Marshal Joe ‘Vinny’ IERVASI, AM,
CSC. (CO3 2005-08, rising to Air Commander Australia.)
- Air Commodore Ben SLEEMAN, CSC, DSM.
(One of the 3SQN Hornet pilots who deployed to Diego Garcia in the
Indian Ocean for “Operation
Slipper” 2002 and was later in the Command
Element for “Operation Falconer” - the invasion of Iraq.)
- Brad MANERA. (Our good friend - Snr Historian and Curator of the ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney.)
“ART CORNER”
Here’s a nice 3SQN souvenir for the pool room, if you have 600 bucks lying around…
"Desert Hawks” - Signed art-print by Robert TAYLOR. - A
flight of Kittyhawks of No.3 Squadron RAAF on a strike mission over
the North African Desert in January 1942,
in the build-up to the Battle of Alamein. 3SQN RAAF
was the first in the Desert to achieve 100 confirmed
victories.
Continuing in combat throughout the fighting in North Africa, 3SQN
scored the highest number of air victories of the Desert Air
Force Squadrons.
Print signed by the artist, plus 3SQN WW2 pilots Nicky BARR, Pete
JEFFREY, Bob GIBBES and Alan RAWLINSON.
Darragh CHRISTIE, who is a Sydney member of the WW1 Aero-Historians, has drawn our attention to an interesting Discovery Channel video presenting a modern scientific investigation into the question: “Who shot down the Red Baron?” [i.e. WW1’s top fighter ace, Manfred von RICHTHOFEN, who was famously buried with full military honours by 3AFC.]
Notably, they quickly eliminated Roy BROWN, the Canadian ace who is still listed by the RAF as the “official” victor. [Strongly supported by all Canadians!] The investigation then moved on to various Australian anti-aircraft machine-gunners who were guarding the Australian Headquarters and Artillery units a few km behind the front line.
The Australian Vickers-gunner commonly favoured by Historians, Cedric POPKIN, was also eliminated. [But rather too quickly! - Popkin's sketch map, shown at 41:08 on the video, is highly instructive on the final flight path of the Baron and also shows that Popkin WAS firing at the required angle. His first "X" indicates that he fired when the Baron was turning east (home) and before Manfred suddenly deviated south – a fact that the video producers have neglected. The laser re-enactment got several hits from Popkin’s position; video 37:56.]
The producers instead give the nod to Lewis-gunner Snowy EVANS. The laser had far more difficulty from Evans' position, with no hits on the initial run. [It is also saddening to hear that Snowy died young and destitute in 1925, after returning to Australia. This was a shockingly common fate for traumatised WW1 veterans.]
Anyone interested in this topic should also read the online Appendix from Bean's Official AIF History, which has lots of contemporary eye-witness statements (sometimes conflicting!), but combined with the video, makes the setting very “real”.
Sydney aero-modeller Adrian RAVEN sends in an interesting 2-min video showing the assembly of the new F-35 model released by the Japanese company Tamiya. “Looks like some pretty impressive engineering in this model, highly detailed and even complex parts just fall together. Radar-Absorbent-Material rendition doesn't look too bad.” [If only the real plane could be clicked together so quickly and cheaply!]
Peter TAYLOR, a veteran Engine Fitter who worked
in 3SQN during the Mirage era, has recently published an excellent
compendium of RAAF Mirages and is now researching what
will be a bigger book on the people of the ‘RAAF Mirage
Family’. He is currently collecting info, and in
particular, photos of 3SQN personnel during that era. Peter
says:
“So far I have had a very good response for 3 SQN pics from
Marty SUSANS in particular, plus approval from CO 3SQN for
extracts from ‘Secrets Revealed’, from Blue (QLD) for ‘The
Lizards that Flew’ and anything currently on the FSB
website. What I am chasing though are photos of the ground
crew and other admin people and allied trades, metal
bashers, Safety Equip, Surface Finishers etc.”
[Email Peter on pcwh@bigpond.com, or Facebook.]
Fighterworld in Williamtown have posted an arrival video for their newest exhibit, the F-18A Classic Hornet “Worimi” (A21-023)...
This aircraft, which served with 3SQN in its distinctive livery, was passed across to 77 SQN before retiring in December 2020. It clocked-up 5,663 flying hours, over more than 30 years of RAAF service. The distinctive artwork was designed by Australian Studio Balarinji and depicts Kilyarr Kilyarr, the Wedge-Tailed Eagle. The name ‘Worimi’ honours the traditional owners of the lands where RAAF Base Williamtown is located. At the time of its retirement, RAAF News quoted a valediction from Tim ALSOP (Commander Air Combat Group): “The Worimi jet was a special aircraft for the RAAF and has made significant contributions to operations. At the 2015 Australian International Airshow at Avalon, then Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Geoff BROWN unveiled the Worimi Hornet. We respect the close working relationship RAAF Base Williamtown has developed over the past years with the Worimi community. It was an honour to have members of the Worimi community see the final flight of the Worimi jet.” The aircraft also features a dedication to the late Warrant Officer Len WATERS, the RAAF’s first-known indigenous fighter pilot.
Our member Gordon CLARKE in Queensland (who is writing a new history of 3 Squadron) asked an interesting question: How long has the date of “19 September 1916” been used to celebrate 3 SQN’s “Official Birthday”?
It turns out that this exact date only goes back as far as 1986! (Although "the start of September" takes us back two decades further.) The 3SQN 70th Birthday in 1986 was celebrated on 19 Sep and coincided with the presentation of new Squadron Colours and a huge parade with swords etc. [ORB p685.] A puff-piece in RAAF News about the 1986 knees-up says, importantly: "The Military Order promulgating the Squadron's formation was dated 19 September 1916, but the Squadron did not begin operations until August the following year."
Sadly, we cannot locate any such 3AFC document today. The 3AFC "Formation" file in the National Archives only has “military orders” from August 1916! [These orders directed the 3AFC junior personnel into Point Cook, but without senior officers, and without any operational training. - For hilarious reasons, the unit was called “2 Squadron” at that time and the most likely candidate for the missing document is actually 2AFC's founding document, Military Order No.440, where that Middle East Squadron was confusingly referred to as "3rd".] Meanwhile the first paragraph of the 3AFC War Diary explicitly states "First Formation… 11 December 1916”. [This was when the senior Admin team of 3AFC first got together in England - without junior personnel, or aircraft!]
In Malaysia in 1976, the 60th Birthday was celebrated on 2 Sep. [ORB p446.] The earliest record of a birthday celebration was in Butterworth on 1 Sep 1966 [ORB p192], with the “50th Jubilee" parade & hangar party.
Significantly, our unit history “3 Squadron at War” (published by the Association in 1959) has a highly erroneous statement that may have informed the later commemorations: "It was in [Egypt] that the original No.3 was born in 1916. In forming it in September of that year of World War I, some personnel were taken from No.1 Squadron AFC (as it was later known) reinforced with enthusiasts from the Light Horse Regiments. The new squadron was first called No.69 (Australian) Squadron Royal Flying Corps, but was later renamed No.3 Squadron Australian Flying Corps."
Gordon also mentions that the Official WW1 History of the AFC (by Cutlack, p424-425) has a lot to answer for. It completely confuses the foundation story of the four AFC operational squadrons. [Cutlack managed to allocate parts of 3AFC formation history to both 2AFC and 4AFC - and very little to 3AFC!] It’s probable that the authors of 3 Squadron at War chose “September 1916” in an attempt to reconcile Cutlack’s official gobbledygook with other historical sources.
Despite all the above, “19 September” is a convenient date that usually has lovely weather. And it now has 36 years of enjoyable 3SQN dining-in “Tradition” behind it!
On somewhat firmer historical ground: A record of the names of the 59 “founding” groundcrew personnel who were posted to 3 Squadron RAAF when it was officially formed, on 1 July 1925, has turned up on page 165 of the Point Cook Daily Orders from 1925.
Our member Andrew HOOKE reports on the stunning success
of his family trip to Sicily, where his dad crash-landed
in mid-1943, after a dogfight with German Bf109s...
July 1943. John HOOKE poses for one of a sequence of photographs of his
crash-site, from where a
peasant family helped him return to Allied lines (on a
donkey!). The crash location was suspected to
be near the town of Rosolini, because the town church
was photographed as part of this sequence.
Andrew says: “We didn’t stay in Rosolini, but in the town of Caiammari. Our plan was a little basic (dad would say “fundamental”) - to visit the town and try to find someone in the Provincial Council or Library who might be able to point us in the right direction, or someone who might be old enough to remember any crashed planes.
The Mayor of Rosolini, Giovanni SPADOLA (wearing tricolour sash),
poses for a photo with descendants of 3SQN Kittyhawk pilot
John HOOKE OBE, DFC, after the family called in at the Rosolini Town
Hall, seeking info about John’s crash-site.
[From left to right:] Luca HOOKE (grand-daughter); Andrew HOOKE
(son); Giovanni; Sabine HOOKE (grand-daughter);
and Jolijn HOOKE (daughter-in-law). Photo taken in the Council
Board Room.
What actually eventuated was way beyond our expectations and gathered momentum on each visit. Initially we went to the “Town Hall” and tried to explain what we were doing. I had printed-off all the photos of the crash and of the “peasant” family, which we had from the AWM collection. - The Mayor was summoned, along with his Councillors. A young translator was brought in (she had just been to the US for three months on a student exchange and almost no one else in Rosolini spoke English) and she arrived with her American friend. We then went to the Council Chamber to all have our photos taken with the Mayor. (Very honoured!) Rosolini’s historical expert (Salvatore SPADARO) was also summoned and arrived to start piecing together the story. For the next three hours all sorts of information was exchanged. The historical expert turned out to be quite influential. We then left for the day and Salvatore went off to talk to people and the local newspaper about the story. The story was then picked up online and in print. Salvatore started getting a huge number of messages from people who thought they knew the crash site and the peasant family.
Salvatore and I spent the next half-day exchanging information. He also engaged a local specialist in geography and military movements during WW2, who was able to provide charts that showed elevated hills, military installations and peasant buildings of the day. His name was Luigi (not joking!) - a fantastic guy. We were then advised that the National TV station R.A.I. wanted to cover the story the next day at 5pm! So we arrived in Rosolini town square to be met by Salvatore, Luigi and a TV journalist and camera crew. We initially did sit-down interviews, then standing interviews [video 11 July] featuring Salvatore, myself and the journalist.
It was rather hot (39°C and 75% humidity). We then all got into cars and drove to the possible crash location, where Luigi had taken photos the previous day. While driving with Luigi the only way to communicate was by holding Google Translate up to him as he drove and spoke. (Actually pretty terrifying, if you know Italian drivers and their roads!) Again lots more discussion and interviews and filming [video 8 July]. Much debate between Luigi and Salvatore about the likelihood that this was the site. However both agreed that it is somewhere around that area and on that side of the town.
It turned out that Salvatore had been told of an old man who knew something of the crash. Salvatore then went and interviewed him and so had come to the potential crash-site with some information. The witness had seen, as a boy (he was now 94), two planes crash near his house and he saw one of them clip its wing on the vineyard just like dad told us, before it crashed and he was sure that one was an Australian plane, and that the Australian pilot had survived and then travelled back to his base in Malta (his actual words). He thought he remembered where the site was, but didn’t feel well enough to travel there (it was very hot), so Salvatore will try to follow this up when the weather cools down.
Salvatore was receiving even more messages as news spread across the province. (A quite incredible level of interest and support from the whole Rosolini community.) His team will continue to interview locals and investigate. They are hopeful they will find the peasant family and the site. - Regardless, Salvatore would like to write about this. He also gave us a signed copy of his “History of Rosolini”; very kind of him. We have been invited to come back next year as it is the anniversary [80 years] of the Allied invasion of Sicily and therefore also of dad’s crash. The Mayor and Salvatore would like to make an event of this. We of course accepted.
Thank you so much for the Association’s support and help on this visit. They were amazed and entranced by the material provided, much of which had come from you. - It was an amazing adventure. Toward the end of the visit, both Salvatore and the Mayor referred to us on several occasions as “family”!
Our member Tim BAILEY in Canberra asked if we have any way of knowing how many times 3SQN's airstrips were attacked by German / Italian aircraft in WW2…
The answer is that an exact count is no longer possible, but based on private diaries, virtually every forward airstrip in the desert fighting in Egypt/Libya/Tunisia was attacked from the air to some extent, plus many of the rear bases. [One 3SQN groundcrew member, LAC Robert BRAYE, was killed in an enemy raid on a rear maintenance base.] The total number of serious air-raids on 3SQN bases would number many dozens. They were also shelled when close to the frontline at El Hamma, Tunisia!
A burning RAAF Air Ambulance after being strafed by German fighters.
In Sicily, enemy air-attacks were rarer, but Agnone got thoroughly pasted.
Luftwaffe bomber flares illuminate the seaside Agnone
airstrip.
Luftwaffe bomber flares illuminate the seaside Agnone airstrip.
A shredded 3SQN
Kittyhawk at Agnone the next morning.
On the Italian mainland there were almost no Axis attacks on airstrips, but the Americans shot-up Cutella!
Flames leap from a 3SQN plane after the Cutella “friendly
fire” incident.
Our member Tony FAEHSE in Melbourne has discovered (in the photo collection of his dad Colin) a rare picture of “The Kitten”, a captured Italian Caproni Ca164 trainer in that featured in 3SQN’s History (and one tragic death) in early 1943. See: 3 Squadron's "Italian Air Force"
The "proud owner" standing behind the starboard wing may well be
3SQN Ace Danny BOARDMAN.
Tony himself is a talented musician and composer and his YouTube Channel now features a wonderful 15min video presenting Colin’s 3SQN WW2 photographs with both original and historical musical backing. (Reflecting the dramatic and exotic experiences of all the boys in the Desert and Italy.) IN THE BLUE - 3 Fighter Squadron RAAF Western Desert 1942 with Colin Faehse - YouTube.
A still from the video showing Pilot Jackie DONALD and Fitter
Frank COONEY.
AIRCDRE (Ret.) Clive C. KING AM, who had
a career as a RAAF Anglican Chaplain, wrote in regarding the Richmond
RAAF Base Chapel: I noted the photo of John LOVE
presenting a copy of his father’s marvellous biography to WGCDR
KIELY at All Saints Chapel.
It brought back many memories. I was posted there
1978-86. The opportunity of ministry to members and their
families there at the Chapel, and in the wider community, was
most rewarding. At that time, the 24/7 base
provided a great opportunity to experience the non-stop military
working and transport environment there. The world of
Hercules and Caribous, and passing USAF aircraft, was
fascinating. We lived on-base in married quarters and
still have contact with members and families from that
time. Later, in 1988, our elder daughter was married in
the Richmond Chapel. I escorted her into the Chapel; I
then changed from uniform into clerical gear in the vestry while
John WHITE (Catholic Chaplain) opened the service. I then
conducted the marriage, John gave the homily and Jack BLANKLEY
(Baptist Chaplain) led the prayers. The reception went
well too, with Steve BOX (Uniting Church Chaplain) saying grace
before the meal. Ecumenism in action, in those times!
(All we four Chaplains had previously served at Base Squadron
Butterworth in the early 1970s, when 3 Squadron was there.)
Jennie POWER, of Buderim QLD., the widow of former 3SQN WW2 Mustang Pilot, FLTLT Eric POWER MiD, opened an interesting discussion with us when she discovered an old file of handwritten papers describing the Squadron’s 1944 “Boxing Day” battle. (On that day 3SQN shot down their “last-ever” Messerschmitt 109, but only claimed it as “damaged”.) The file dated from 1989, having been circulated by former CO3, Murray NASH DSO, DFC and Bar. (Eric had flown on that mission.) The file revealed several interesting details of the story, which have now been added to our website. We were also able to discover “why” Eric got his Mentioned in Despatches award, despite the lack of the citation in his file. Eric developed a trusted leadership role in the Squadron and on 7/4/45 personally brought down a vital German rail bridge!
A snowy scene in Brandon, Canada (site of a museum today) where Eric POWER (back row
centre - wearing aviator sunnies) did his advanced flight
training.
The light blue bands around the caps of some of the boys indicate
"Training". The trainees were consequently nicknamed "Blue
Orchids".]
Jennie said: “I often think of those young men (Eric was
barely 19) setting off into the world with gusto, with no idea
what was ahead.”
A snowy scene in Brandon, Canada (site of a museum today) where Eric POWER (back row centre - wearing aviator sunnies) did his advanced flight training.
The light blue bands around the caps of some of the boys indicate "Training". The trainees were consequently nicknamed "Blue Orchids".]
Jennie said: “I often think of those young men (Eric was barely 19) setting off into the world with gusto, with no idea what was ahead.”
